


Agenda (The Destiny's Child Remix)

by heyjupiter



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Babies, F/F, Gen, Post-Canon, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 03:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2052621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raven and Charles have different methods, but ultimately the same agenda: creating a better future for mutant children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Agenda (The Destiny's Child Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unforgotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Agenda](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1687073) by [Unforgotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/pseuds/Unforgotten). 



> A few lines of dialogue here are lifted directly from Unforgotten's "Agenda."
> 
> Thanks to pocky-slash for the beta! She is the greatest.

Raven had meant to just buy diapers and get home as soon as possible, but it was a small store and she couldn't help but notice the young girl shoplifting across the aisle from her. 

Raven wore the form of a matronly housewife, the kind of woman people didn't usually look twice at. The girl, on the other hand, wore a bright yellow trench coat, which would have drawn attention even if it weren't late summer. Raven dropped her eyes to the floor and politely ignored the young girl slipping a packet of diapers under the coat before sidling toward the door. It wasn't Raven's business; Raven's responsibilities were to her own family, and to mutantkind.

Ravent quietly waited in line to pay for her own pack of diapers. She said nothing when she saw a city cop approach the yellow-coated girl. The girl sent sparks flying out of her hands and made a run for it, sprinting down the block. Raven smiled faintly to herself, but rearranged her face into an appropriately concerned expression by the time she made it to the cashier.

The cashier, a middle-aged Puerto Rican woman whose nametag identified her as Laura, sighed and said, "Kids these days."

"Does this kind of thing happen often around here?" Raven asked.

"You from out of town, honey?" Laura asked, squinting at Raven. Raven came to this store frequently and had spoken to Laura many times, but she rarely repeated a face for her shopping trips.

"I meant, are there many mutants here?"

"Hmm. You be careful. We're only a few blocks from Bryant Park, and that place is full of all kinds of homeless, plenty of 'em dangerous, whether they got sparkle powers or not. My advice, you take those diapers and get out of here, go back to Jersey or wherever."

"Well. Thank you for the advice," Raven said. She took her diapers and her leave. She glanced up and down the block and saw no sign of the yellow-coated girl, and felt relieved that she'd gotten away. She hoped the girl wasn't living in Bryant Park--the clerk was right, there were plenty of homeless mutants living there, and it wasn't particularly safe. Especially not for a baby.

She returned to the small studio apartment, where she was greeted by the sounds of news radio reading the day's stock reports. She put the diapers away, shifted back to her natural form, and sat next to Irene, who was holding a sleeping Kurt in her arms.

"Hello, my loves," Raven cooed.

"He fell asleep as soon as the business report started," Irene said. "Your baby is bored by capitalism."

"Good for him."

"Yes, we're teaching him well." 

"Do you want me to take him?"

"No, he's fine. I want to enjoy as much time with him as possible."

"Irene--"

"I'm sorry, Raven. But my visions haven't changed. I still see Kurt leaving us before his first birthday."

"But there's still time. Those visions could change, right?"

"They could," Irene allowed. "But it becomes increasingly unlikely that they will. I just want you to be prepared. Have you thought any more about my suggestion?"

Raven ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know. I… I don't think Charles wants anything to do with me anymore. And…" she trailed off, unsure of how to articulate her thoughts. Irene waited patiently, something at which she excelled.

Finally, Raven said, "I love Charles like a brother, and I was always grateful to him for taking me in. But he… he still made me feel self-conscious about my skin. My mutation. I couldn't bear for Kurt to grow up feeling that way." Especially since, as Irene knew full well, Kurt gave no indication that he'd ever be able to change the color of his skin. He might be blue forever. Raven hoped he would be.

"Hmm," Irene said. "It is rare, but people _can_ change. Perhaps you should pay Charles a visit and see the new school." Kurt stirred and fussed in her arms, and Irene smiled and kissed his forehead. Then Kurt began to cry in earnest. Irene sniffed and said, "It's a good thing you got diapers."

"Here, I'll take him," Raven said. While she changed his diaper and prepared a bottle for him, Irene continued listening to the news, her face composed into a look of intense concentration. Raven still didn't fully understand Irene's mutant gifts, but she'd learned that she could rely upon Irene's information without fearing a hidden agenda. Irene, like Raven, wanted to make the world a safer place for mutants. Like Raven, she understood that the process might involve getting one's hands dirty. 

The next morning at breakfast, Irene said, "Raven, I think that soon we need to leave New York. I think--I am fairly confident that we will have business to attend to in California."

"Business?"

"I believe there will be attempts made on President Ford's life."

"I thought you weren't sure about that?"

"I wasn't. But now… it is exceedingly probable."

Raven closed her eyes. "I don't understand why our government doesn't have a better Secret Service. Isn't this their job?"

"I see terrible consequences if this comes to pass."

"Is it--is it Erik?"

"No, I don't think so. But I think the assassin is a mutant. The attack will come from the Manson Family… and their group attracts so many mutants," Irene said with a frown.

Raven sighed. Even without Irene's powers, she knew that castout mutants tended to end up making unfortunate allies. "I had hoped we'd have a little more time…."

"I believe we have a few weeks, perhaps a few months." Irene didn't say, didn't need to say, that taking an infant on a cross-country assassination-prevention trip was not ideal. Irene never said "I told you so," at least not explicitly. 

"Okay," Raven said, jingling a set of plastic keys in front of Kurt's face. "Okay, we'll… figure something out. Maybe Azazel could take care of his son for awhile? If we could find him." She didn't blame Azazel for faking his own death, considering the circumstances, but it made sharing childcare responsibilities extremely difficult.

"Or… or Logan owes me a favor, certainly… or…" She trailed off, smiling down at her son's happy face. Irene waited patiently for Raven to come to a sensible conclusion. "Fine. I'll go visit Charles. Just to see."

Irene smiled.

That evening, after putting Kurt to bed, Raven borrowed a car from someone a few blocks over--well, Raven was sure the neighbor would have been happy to lend it, if Raven had asked--and drove out to Westchester. As she walked up the driveway, she remembered the first time she'd come up to this house. As a child, after the death of her mother, she'd fled the city and made her way upstate, having realized that many of the houses in Westchester were large and wealthy enough that they might not notice a small trespasser. She'd hoped for a night's shelter and a hastily grabbed meal; she'd never expected to find a brother.

She remembered offering young Charles cocoa and being shocked by his assertion that his mother had never made him cocoa. Raven's mother had always made her cocoa when she couldn't sleep. Raven knew that orphanage matrons and foster mothers could be cruel, but she hadn't yet learned that there could be birth mothers who would be like Sharon Xavier.

Now Raven knew all about life in the Xavier mansion. She parked the car and crept in the servant's entrance. She hadn't bothered to call in advance. She wasn't sure what she'd say, anyway. She still wasn't sure what she'd say to Charles, but habit and hunger called her to the kitchen. She and Irene got by all right, and Raven wasn't above stealing when she needed it, but mostly they lived off eggs and canned vegetables. Charles's fridge was stocked with the kinds of delicacies she usually only got when she was undercover at some kind of event for the wealthy. She piled a plate high, figuring she might as well talk to Charles on a full stomach.

From behind her, she heard, "Raven, you're here." She added some cherries to her plate before turning around.

"You're observant," she said. She closed the fridge and carried her plate to the table. She didn't want to be friendly. She didn't want to forgive him. She wanted to go home to Irene and tell her that Charles Xavier was completely incapable of caring for her son.

"How's the leg? Did it heal up all right?" he asked.

"It's fine," she said, refusing to elaborate on how difficult it had been to live on the run with a limp. She knew the physical damage Charles had suffered at Erik's hands was greater than what she'd suffered. Although if there were a way of quantifying emotional betrayal, she supposed she and Charles might just have been wronged equally by Erik. Still, she didn't want to talk about that, and she was relieved when he didn't ask, and she didn't feel even a hint of telepathic snooping.

Instead, he offered her tea. In lieu of a mother who'd prepare cocoa, as children he'd always made tea for the two of them. Now Raven accepted, refusing to be touched that he remembered she liked her tea with honey. 

After a moment's awkward silence, Charles offered, with more than a touch of pride, "I'm re-opening the school. The first semester starts next month."

Irene had been right, as usual. 

"Bet you're excited. You always liked school," Raven said, still determined not to make this easy for him. She wanted to hear about how horrible his school would be, how unwelcome her beautiful blue son would be made to feel. Surely if there were no safe place for Kurt, Irene would understand that they needed to put him first. Surely Raven could be allowed a little more time as a mother, not a guerrilla warrior.

Raven savored the brief flash of hurt in Charles's eyes, but then he carried on, excitedly telling her all about his plans. How the school would be a safe haven for all kinds of mutants, and they could learn to control their abilities as well as get a decent education. And she remembered how delighted Charles had been back when he'd first met Raven, before the world got in their way. It seemed that some of that Charles was returning.

Finally, Charles wound down a bit about the school's planned glory, and she asked, "If someone—another mutant—needed help, could they stay here? Would you take them in? Or would you rather not get involved?"

He hesitated before replying, "Provided they came in peace and didn't harm any of my students—yes, of course they could stay here. This house will always welcome mutants in need."

Raven smiled, briefly allowing herself to think of Kurt having a safe and happy childhood. She replied, "I'll keep that in mind. But now I have to get going."

"Of course," Charles replied, and Raven recognized the sadness in his voice. But she _did_ have to get going. Raven trusted Irene with Kurt, and she knew that Irene got along very well for being blind. Still, she felt better when she could keep her own eyes on him, and he'd probably be up for another feeding before too long.

Sure enough, mere moments after Raven returned the car she'd borrowed and stepped back inside their apartment, she heard Kurt fussing. Then she realized that Irene was already carefully testing a bottle against her wrist. 

"Your son's hungry again," Irene said. "How is your brother?"

"He's… he's doing well," Raven said, a bit grudgingly. "You were right, of course--he's planning to reopen the school within the month or so."

"Hmm," Irene said thoughtfully. Then, to Kurt, "Here you go, liebling."

"He said he would take any mutants who needed a safe place. He… he sounded how he used to sound. Before," Raven said, with a dismissive hand gesture to wave away a decade of struggle. 

Irene softly cooed at Kurt and waited for Raven to sort out her thoughts. 

"So… so I guess we could leave Kurt with him. It would be… it would be safest. Wouldn't it?"

"It's your decision to make, Raven, and I know it is not an easy one."

"I know it's my decision, but what do you think? What do you see?"

Irene sat quietly until Kurt had finished. Raven knew Irene wasn't ignoring her, though, and after she burped Kurt and carefully returned him to his crib, she said, "I don't have a clear vision of Kurt's future. I see many possibilities, but only very vaguely. From what I can tell, though, I do believe that he would have a safe, happy childhood at Xavier's School."

"Okay," Raven said. "Okay, I'll… I'll take him to Charles's school. Before we go to California."

"We don't have to leave just yet. We can take a few more weeks to prepare."

The days passed too quickly, and Raven's preparations didn't allow her to spend as much time with Kurt as she would have liked. 

Then, the day arrived. The day they'd planned to leave for Sacramento. Raven made one last trip to their corner bodega.

On her way home, pack of diapers tucked under her arm, Raven noticed the girl with the yellow trench coat, the one who'd used her mutant powers to escape from the police. Today she was sitting on the corner with a change cup in front of her and a baby in her lap. Raven tossed some change in the cup as she passed, and then turned back when the change floated in the air, spinning in a lazy circle.

"Shogo, stop," the girl hissed, shoving the money back in the cup. She glanced up at Raven and said, "Isn't that weird? Must be some air coming out of a subway vent, doing that."

But Raven looked at the smiling baby and the dime that still floated above his chubby fist, and said, "Why don't you two come with me? I know a place that will be safe for you."

"Oh, no thank you," the girl said, tensing her muscles. "We're not interested in your religion. Or whatever."

Raven said, "Are you sure? I think you might be," and then she showed the girl her true, yellow eyes.

The girl took a cautious breath. "Um."

"I can take you to a place that's safe for kids like you. Both of you."

"I don't have any money… obviously," the girl said.

"That's okay. The man who runs it, he has plenty."

The girl bit her lip and Raven said, "Why don't you come back to my apartment? I'll give you some lunch and tell you more about it. If you'd like to go, I'll take you there today. When I… when I take my son there." She nodded down at the diapers she was carrying, hoping to build some kind of maternal camaraderie. "And if you're not interested, you don't have to go. Okay?"

"... okay," The girl agreed. She stuffed her change into one of her coat's pockets and stood up, carefully cradling her baby against her hip. 

Raven offered the girl her hand and said, "I'm Raven."

"Jubilee. And this little guy is Shogo."

"It's nice to meet you both," Raven said. She led the duo back to her apartment, where she introduced Jubilee to Irene and let Shogo play with one of Kurt's rattles.

Then something inside her made her ask Jubilee, "Before we get started, would you like some tea?"

"Um, sure, thanks," Jubilee said.

While Raven busied herself with heating water--which was stupid, given the summer heat, but Raven persisted anyway--Irene said, "Hello, Jubilee. I've been hoping I would get to meet you soon."

"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked. She glanced at Irene's dark glasses, then to the door.

"I'm a mutant, like you are," Irene replied. "I may be unable to see with my eyes, but that doesn't mean I can't see."

"... huh?" Jubilee asked.

Raven poured hot water into three chipped mugs while Irene explained her powers, in her thoughtful, nonlinear way of speaking. She smiled at Jubilee's wonder. Sometimes Raven forgot how remarkable it was to live with a real life soothsayer.

Raven wondered if they were the first other mutants Jubilee had ever met. She remembered when she first felt that same sense of awe and companionship, standing in Charles' kitchen that night so many years ago. She was glad she could offer that feeling to someone else. It reminded her of what she was fighting for.

**Author's Note:**

> [Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford_assassination_attempt_in_Sacramento), who attempted to assassinate President Ford in 1975, was a member of the Manson Family cult. Her mutant status is unknown.
> 
> I borrowed Jubilee's adopted son Shogo from the new (adjectiveless) X-Men comics. There, he's not exactly a mutant but rather was possessed by a sentient bacterium, so... well, you'll forgive me for simplifying, I hope.


End file.
